Black Jones
Tallulah Bankhead
This divine beauty, an often forgotten stage and screen actress of the Hollywood Pre Code Era would set the template of the wild bed hopping temptress and actress long before future generations of actresses like Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner would ultimately turn it into an artform. Tallulah would take advantage of the early years of silent Hollywood cinema, before the invention of the infamous Pre Code Laws on decent morals, and the gossip rag mags of the time that seemed more in favour of printing outrageous stories of these early movie stars than what the next big film on the horizon was. Tallulah would indeed create the mould as the sex mad actress and break it in half over her delicate little knee as she would be a one-off in this type of Hollywood actress behaviour that not only talked the talk but absolutely walked the walk in not shying away from the rumours, the gossip and pillow talk from people that knew her and indeed had relationships with her. This would be men and women that would find themselves under the spell of this incredible "live for the moment" woman. Stories of Tallulah at the height of her powers on screen as well as in the bedroom has become part of the fabled Hollywood folklore so long ago that much of the film industry whether it chooses to admit it or not, it owes a great deal to this legendary actress that helped create the lingering lustre and dreams of many young hopefuls and starlets heading West to California to follow the footsteps of Tallulah's early meteoric success, fame and fortune. The hedonistic lifestyle behind the scenes in private was just par of the course for many of these old screen stars like that would gain legendary notorious lifestyle reputations like Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford and John Barrymore. Tallulah's destructive fast and loose lifestyle is perhaps remembered more today because she was a glamourous woman from the most privileged of family backgrounds. Her longing for shock and awe in the public eye was only matched and maybe surpassed by fellow screen idols of her day like John Barrymore, John Gilbert and Errol Flynn who would all drink themselves to death and die before her time was up in similar circumstances. Love affairs or just plain old one night hook-ups, Tallulah has been linked with include legends like Greta Garbo, Gary Cooper, Hattie McDaniel, Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart, Billie Holiday, George Raft and a long standing love affair with famed writer Mercedes de Acosta that's become the most famous one of all her known lovers. Known and remembered for her witty or scathing comments, being an unashamed extrovert and a lovely habit of stripping off naked at many of her infamous private house parties either shocking her guests or just lighting the blue touch paper ensuring a great night of revelry ahead. But this is a film blog and seems an eternity since I discussed her film career. It was a very good film career starting off in the vintage silent films of the 1910s when she was still a teenager, of course most of these vintage short films are classed as lost footage today. Getting film exposure in Great Britain from 1922 to the early 1930s raised her profile big enough for her return to the US in 1931 and being cast in a series of major films directed by great directors and starring opposite future screen greats like Charles Laughton, Cary Grant and Gary Cooper, later admitting in 1932 that she only took on the film part with Gary Cooper because she had designs on getting Gary into bed - she did not fail on that prospect. Such was Tallulah's wayward abandon to sex, she ended up in hospital in 1933 fighting for her life after contracting "gonorrhoea" and needing an emergency "hysterectomy" life saving operation which she would lay the blame at the feet of either Gary Cooper or George Raft, themselves having a very loose attitude to sex with countless different women. Tallulah however remained defiant in carrying on with her own sex vices telling her doctor "don't think this has taught me a lesson!", She still starred in great films after this time despite being underweight with her fast lifestyle threatening to catch her up, "The Little Foxes" (1939) being one of the best films of the decade. In my opinion Tallulah's best known film to today's audiences is the classic WW2 survival film "Lifeboat" in 1944 directed by master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock where she was cast as lead actress amongst a cast of just nine players stuck adrift on a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean after having their ship sunk by a German U-boat. A gripping thriller and Tallulah was fantastic in her role as a chatty columnist. This role would earn her the New York Film Critics award for Best Actress, amongst many Film Critic awards she was nominated and won over her career, four in total. Surprisingly though she was never nominated for an Oscar for any of her great performances. Tallulah was only married once for four years (1937-1941) before filing for divorce. She also had no children before that emergency hysterectomy operation in 1933. Her family background is one of vast wealth and privilege, a political family with grandfather and uncle as U.S senators and her father William Bankhead was Speaker of the House of Representatives. But they were also very racist with deep support for white supremacy and racial segregation in their state of Alabama. This was all at odds with Tallulah's liberal progressive ideals she instead supported like the Civil Rights Movement and other such causes that often saw her clash with her family. Knowing this about Tallulah just summed her up and how she lived her life, full of conviction, full hearts and eyes wide open regardless the fallout. Definitely a quality I admire in someone. In the 1950s her film career was slowing up although her hedonistic lifestyle showed no signs of following suit. Since the early 1930s with fame and fortune at her feet she'd indulge in all the vices afforded to her, a heavy smoker at a reported 120 cigarettes a day consumed, a heavy drinker and an addict to sleeping pills to calm her racing mind. Like all great Greek tragedies, Tallulah was on borrowed time at the start of the 1960s and now in her late 50s. Frail, weak and thin, unlike other great stars of her day like "Greta Garbo" and "Rita Hayworth" who would become recluses and go into permanent hiding after their incredible early screen beauty waned off and steady age of time set in, Tallulah would continue to be seen at public events that would in itself start the gossip hounds with talk of her ill health. Her last ever screen role was in none other than the popular comic tv show "Batman" (1966) in a two episode parter from Season 2 in 1967. Tallulah would play the villain "Black Widow" with relish and delight, vamping it up as the grand dame diva of Old Hollywood getting Batman and Robin in all sorts of trouble. Ironically one of these episodes starred Tallulah's old lover and fellow screen legend and womanizer "George Raft" as a uncredited guest appearance in a bank that "Black Widow" was robbing. Pretty sure there was a few stories that they shared onset during filming. Once filming was complete, the world would never see Tallulah on screen ever again, she looked terribly thin and unwell at this point. None of us can escape the ravages of Old Father Time, for some though it comes much sooner and I get the impression that suited Tallulah just fine. These cases are often described as the "longest suicide" cases when you see someone so full of abandonment for their own life when seemingly they have everything one could only dream of having - the tragic actor Montgomery Clift is one such actor that fits the bill of this sad decline. Tallulah now taking mixtures of dangerous cocktails of sedatives to aid her sleep was now commonplace in the 1960s, to such a point that she would instruct her maid to tape her down in bed at night to prevent her from getting up to swallow more pills. She's quoted back in 1954 talking to Tennessee Williams (no stranger himself to self harm) confessing "I'm 54, and I wish always, always for death. I've always wanted death". "Nothing else do I want more". Well on December 12th 1968, Death came to collect Tallulah from this earthly plane and the Lord would take her home to everlasting peace. She was 66 when she passed away from double pneumonia, emphysema due to excessive smoking and basic malnutrition. Her last two words she uttered from her last breath of life was a request for "codeine...bourbon". Remarkable and defiant to the end. An adult life and career lived in full-on debauchery for all to see, many would see her wander about stark naked, A great stage actress and silver screen star. She lived life at 100mph, could drink down a bottle of bourbon in less than 30 minutes and could get into the pants of any man, or woman she set her sights on even faster. The woman that coined the famous line "Dahling" with her sexy husky voice is gone, but her legend lives on forevermore as a somewhat cautionary tale of unlimited control and to know where to draw the line in the sand. Beyond doubt though, she was one of the greatest stars and sex sirens of the early half of the 20th century. *Above photo of gorgeous Tallulah in the early 1930s.
Tallulah Bankhead
This divine beauty, an often forgotten stage and screen actress of the Hollywood Pre Code Era would set the template of the wild bed hopping temptress and actress long before future generations of actresses like Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner would ultimately turn it into an artform. Tallulah would take advantage of the early years of silent Hollywood cinema, before the invention of the infamous Pre Code Laws on decent morals, and the gossip rag mags of the time that seemed more in favour of printing outrageous stories of these early movie stars than what the next big film on the horizon was. Tallulah would indeed create the mould as the sex mad actress and break it in half over her delicate little knee as she would be a one-off in this type of Hollywood actress behaviour that not only talked the talk but absolutely walked the walk in not shying away from the rumours, the gossip and pillow talk from people that knew her and indeed had relationships with her. This would be men and women that would find themselves under the spell of this incredible "live for the moment" woman. Stories of Tallulah at the height of her powers on screen as well as in the bedroom has become part of the fabled Hollywood folklore so long ago that much of the film industry whether it chooses to admit it or not, it owes a great deal to this legendary actress that helped create the lingering lustre and dreams of many young hopefuls and starlets heading West to California to follow the footsteps of Tallulah's early meteoric success, fame and fortune. The hedonistic lifestyle behind the scenes in private was just par of the course for many of these old screen stars like that would gain legendary notorious lifestyle reputations like Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford and John Barrymore. Tallulah's destructive fast and loose lifestyle is perhaps remembered more today because she was a glamourous woman from the most privileged of family backgrounds. Her longing for shock and awe in the public eye was only matched and maybe surpassed by fellow screen idols of her day like John Barrymore, John Gilbert and Errol Flynn who would all drink themselves to death and die before her time was up in similar circumstances. Love affairs or just plain old one night hook-ups, Tallulah has been linked with include legends like Greta Garbo, Gary Cooper, Hattie McDaniel, Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart, Billie Holiday, George Raft and a long standing love affair with famed writer Mercedes de Acosta that's become the most famous one of all her known lovers. Known and remembered for her witty or scathing comments, being an unashamed extrovert and a lovely habit of stripping off naked at many of her infamous private house parties either shocking her guests or just lighting the blue touch paper ensuring a great night of revelry ahead. But this is a film blog and seems an eternity since I discussed her film career. It was a very good film career starting off in the vintage silent films of the 1910s when she was still a teenager, of course most of these vintage short films are classed as lost footage today. Getting film exposure in Great Britain from 1922 to the early 1930s raised her profile big enough for her return to the US in 1931 and being cast in a series of major films directed by great directors and starring opposite future screen greats like Charles Laughton, Cary Grant and Gary Cooper, later admitting in 1932 that she only took on the film part with Gary Cooper because she had designs on getting Gary into bed - she did not fail on that prospect. Such was Tallulah's wayward abandon to sex, she ended up in hospital in 1933 fighting for her life after contracting "gonorrhoea" and needing an emergency "hysterectomy" life saving operation which she would lay the blame at the feet of either Gary Cooper or George Raft, themselves having a very loose attitude to sex with countless different women. Tallulah however remained defiant in carrying on with her own sex vices telling her doctor "don't think this has taught me a lesson!", She still starred in great films after this time despite being underweight with her fast lifestyle threatening to catch her up, "The Little Foxes" (1939) being one of the best films of the decade. In my opinion Tallulah's best known film to today's audiences is the classic WW2 survival film "Lifeboat" in 1944 directed by master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock where she was cast as lead actress amongst a cast of just nine players stuck adrift on a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean after having their ship sunk by a German U-boat. A gripping thriller and Tallulah was fantastic in her role as a chatty columnist. This role would earn her the New York Film Critics award for Best Actress, amongst many Film Critic awards she was nominated and won over her career, four in total. Surprisingly though she was never nominated for an Oscar for any of her great performances. Tallulah was only married once for four years (1937-1941) before filing for divorce. She also had no children before that emergency hysterectomy operation in 1933. Her family background is one of vast wealth and privilege, a political family with grandfather and uncle as U.S senators and her father William Bankhead was Speaker of the House of Representatives. But they were also very racist with deep support for white supremacy and racial segregation in their state of Alabama. This was all at odds with Tallulah's liberal progressive ideals she instead supported like the Civil Rights Movement and other such causes that often saw her clash with her family. Knowing this about Tallulah just summed her up and how she lived her life, full of conviction, full hearts and eyes wide open regardless the fallout. Definitely a quality I admire in someone. In the 1950s her film career was slowing up although her hedonistic lifestyle showed no signs of following suit. Since the early 1930s with fame and fortune at her feet she'd indulge in all the vices afforded to her, a heavy smoker at a reported 120 cigarettes a day consumed, a heavy drinker and an addict to sleeping pills to calm her racing mind. Like all great Greek tragedies, Tallulah was on borrowed time at the start of the 1960s and now in her late 50s. Frail, weak and thin, unlike other great stars of her day like "Greta Garbo" and "Rita Hayworth" who would become recluses and go into permanent hiding after their incredible early screen beauty waned off and steady age of time set in, Tallulah would continue to be seen at public events that would in itself start the gossip hounds with talk of her ill health. Her last ever screen role was in none other than the popular comic tv show "Batman" (1966) in a two episode parter from Season 2 in 1967. Tallulah would play the villain "Black Widow" with relish and delight, vamping it up as the grand dame diva of Old Hollywood getting Batman and Robin in all sorts of trouble. Ironically one of these episodes starred Tallulah's old lover and fellow screen legend and womanizer "George Raft" as a uncredited guest appearance in a bank that "Black Widow" was robbing. Pretty sure there was a few stories that they shared onset during filming. Once filming was complete, the world would never see Tallulah on screen ever again, she looked terribly thin and unwell at this point. None of us can escape the ravages of Old Father Time, for some though it comes much sooner and I get the impression that suited Tallulah just fine. These cases are often described as the "longest suicide" cases when you see someone so full of abandonment for their own life when seemingly they have everything one could only dream of having - the tragic actor Montgomery Clift is one such actor that fits the bill of this sad decline. Tallulah now taking mixtures of dangerous cocktails of sedatives to aid her sleep was now commonplace in the 1960s, to such a point that she would instruct her maid to tape her down in bed at night to prevent her from getting up to swallow more pills. She's quoted back in 1954 talking to Tennessee Williams (no stranger himself to self harm) confessing "I'm 54, and I wish always, always for death. I've always wanted death". "Nothing else do I want more". Well on December 12th 1968, Death came to collect Tallulah from this earthly plane and the Lord would take her home to everlasting peace. She was 66 when she passed away from double pneumonia, emphysema due to excessive smoking and basic malnutrition. Her last two words she uttered from her last breath of life was a request for "codeine...bourbon". Remarkable and defiant to the end. An adult life and career lived in full-on debauchery for all to see, many would see her wander about stark naked, A great stage actress and silver screen star. She lived life at 100mph, could drink down a bottle of bourbon in less than 30 minutes and could get into the pants of any man, or woman she set her sights on even faster. The woman that coined the famous line "Dahling" with her sexy husky voice is gone, but her legend lives on forevermore as a somewhat cautionary tale of unlimited control and to know where to draw the line in the sand. Beyond doubt though, she was one of the greatest stars and sex sirens of the early half of the 20th century. *Above photo of gorgeous Tallulah in the early 1930s.